Brooklyn Heights became known as “America’s first suburb” thanks to the opening of Robert Fulton’s steamship service. (See the research from my very first week.) Well-to-do families enjoyed a reliable commute to Manhattan while maintaining property in the fairer, roomier city across the East River. It’s still home to some of the most beautiful – and most expensive – property in the borough.

The problem with such a well-known place is that its bones have been picked almost totally clean by other scavengers researchers. I’m excited to dig into the archives in an attempt to find something really obscure.